Witch of the Web

 

Chapter 17

Rose

“Sooooo that’s the basic gist of it,” I say as I brush some of my long hair from my face. “My parents were the original creators of Willow, and I likely overheard the name at some point and it stuck.” I glance down at Willow who tilts her head. “Willow also thinks she may have subconsciously remembered and even suggested the name at first. So there’s that.” 

Summer looks between me and my cat before offering a gentle smile. “This must be such a shock for you. To find out all these things about your parents after they died? How’re you holding up, Rose?” 

I slump into one of the various suitable seats around the room and let out a noise somewhere between a sigh and a manic giggle. “Honestly? I’m just so tired of all this. It’s one life altering revelation after another.” I shoot a look at Felicia. “Next thing you know, someone’s going to say Felicia is actually my cousin or something equally dumb.” I watch the red head’s reaction just in case. “You’re not actually related to me are you?”

“Oh fuck no. We lived in a decent part of the city and if we did have family in the slums, we wouldn’t have left them there,” she explains before joining me on the couch I’d claimed. She snuggles up to me leaving me feeling a little flustered, but in a good way. 

It’s weird. I try not to question it too much since it feels nice, but it’s just so fucking insane to consider I like this woman, when not even a week ago I’d have erased someone’s bank account for even suggesting I’d be snuggling a jack, even a former one. 

No point in focusing too hard on things. I need to take it one day at a time. 

“This whole fiasco does explain some things though,” I point out as I pick up Willow and stroke her fur. I’ll never not be amazed by how Willow simulates touch. If I push hard enough, I can reach through her, but she provides me enough physical feedback that I subconsciously interact with her as if she’s solid. 

“Like what?” Summer asks, shaking me from my musings on Willow.

“Well for one, why Willow was so quick to bind with me. Our morals aren’t exactly super compatible half the time. She says she’d have had too difficult of a time escaping my tower, but I honestly think she’s just telling herself that,” I reason as I continue to pet the feline in question. “I think she recognized me on some level.” 

“That’s sweet and all, but what do you mean about your morals not being compatible?” Felicia presses. Summer nods along, obviously curious about my answer too. I’d kind of been hoping she wouldn’t call me out on that.

“Isn’t it obvious?” I ask, hoping to dodge the question with another one. They don’t take the bait and just watch me expectantly. “Despite what LOG tried to make Willow, ultimately she’s just a big softy who wants to help people, even if her desire to help me takes precedence.” I give the bleeding heart cat a kiss to show I don’t mind too much. “I was briefly tempted on the way over here to just steal the resistance's digital assets and scram until Willow convinced me otherwise,” I admit. “The only reason I haven’t even left entirely already is because Willow believes wholeheartedly in these people. I think she might be biased though given who made her,” I say with a giggle. 

Summer and Felicia both look slightly mortified at what I admitted. I wave a hand dramatically before letting out a theatrical sigh. “Obviously I haven’t done any of these things. Willow does a good job of being the metaphorical angel on my shoulder.” That fortunately does the trick and my two girlfriends relax considerably. 

“I think you don’t give yourself enough credit,” Summer says softly as she joins me and Felicia on the couch. “You have a good heart under all that cynicism and selfishness. It just got buried by the system. I’m sure we can help pull you back out.”

Blech. 

Summer’s sentiment chips away at the shell of cynicism and selfishness she so accurately observed. The problem is that I need that! In the slums you don’t have time to worry about the wellbeing of others. You take care of yourself first, then only if you’re actually doing well do you even consider helping others.

But, as Willow is pointing out to me, the resistance doesn’t operate that way. They’re all from the same sort of background as me, and yet they’re here pushing for a better future.

It’s as naive as it is admirable. 

Still, at least working with them for now should be advantageous. 

I remotely open the door and let Lonnie back in. She smiles as she sees the three of us lounging together on the couch. 

“So what are we supposed to do until Roger comes through with those pods?” I ask Lonnie, already starting to get bored with the situation. 

“I’ve been thinking about that, and I figured that if you’re going to be going on a trek in Lanadel, you’d best be prepared.” Her response triggers a chill up my spine as I have a bad feeling about what she’s going to suggest. “So to ensure you all get what you need as quickly and efficiently as possible. We’re going to train.”

God fucking damnit. 

Stupid resistance quester shit garbler. 

Ugh.

“That sounds like fun!” Summer gushes, softening the response I’d been gearing up to. 

“It sounds stupid…” I grumble. “But, if Summer’s interested, then fine.” 

Summer gets up and wraps her aunt in a hug before letting out the squealiest squeal that ever squealed. 

Fucking hell, why does she have to be so sexy and cute at the same time?

“Right then, meet me back at the auditorium in half an hour. I’ll get everything set up.” Lonnie hurries off, leaving the four of us alone once more. 

“I’ll admit, I’m curious what she can teach us,” Felicia chuckles. “Considering how effective she was back at the tower.” I’ll never admit it, but so am I.

****

Never in a million years should I have agreed to this stupid idea.

Lonnie has gotten several systems brought into the auditorium, which has of course drawn a curious crowd of observers. She’s even leaned into the spectacle and hooked up the big screen behind the stage so everyone can watch us. 

Absolute horseshit. 

Oh well, I’ll just have to humble her in front of all her stupid friends. It’s not like quester set ups are even remotely effective for dealing with other people. All it’ll take is the right viral package and you’re seized up and can’t even fight. 

When the group of us are loaded into the local network, we find ourselves in an underground arena. Lonnie hands Summer and Felicia a small orb each. She shoots me a smile as she does so before taking her position on the opposite side of the arena. 

“Alright kiddos, let’s see what you got. All three of you versus me.” Lonnie clearly underestimates me and Willow if she thinks she can even take me on. “And to make things interesting, if I win, we get those security upgrades for free.”

Ha! Wow. I could work with this level of cockiness.

“Ok, sure. But if I win, I’ll charge you double,” I counter. Lonnie smirks like she knows something I don’t. That puts me on edge. I didn’t survive as long as I have by dismissing people’s bold claims out of pocket. I’ll have to take her a bit more seriously.

Both Summer and Felicia remain oblivious to my thoughts, and take their own positions around me. They know I’m their strongest asset in this fight. Felicia will be more effective than Summer at least, since the quester stuff isn’t her primary means of combat.

All my assumptions are thrown out the damn window the moment the fight starts. Within less than a second, Lonnie has crossed the gap between us and dispatched both Summer and Felicia. She’s standing right before me, taunting me to lash out in response. 

I don’t take the bait. I coordinate with Willow to take control of the world around Lonnie and lock her down so we can deliver a polymorph package. There’s just one problem though.

Lonnie is so stupidly, blindingly fast. I don’t even know how she can process information that quickly. When she dashes in to deliver a blow, I smirk, ready to turn her into a cat. It’s the little touch of respect she deserves. 

That’s the plan at least, right up until she dodges under my hand and connects her fist with my gut. It feels like I’ve taken a train to the chest as I go flying backwards. 

What the actual fuck? 

Questers should have their effectiveness hard capped against people. She should not be able to hit me with even close to that much power.

I try to open my mouth to call ‘hax’, but I just spurt out blood. Fuck, my digital ribs have punctured my lungs. At least that’s what the status screen says.

While I try to mend the damage, Lonnie uses my distraction to dash in once more. She laughs as she vanishes in front of me only to deliver a wicked blow to my spine. 

Willow hisses at her and tries to directly pull her underground, but even she, with her mind that completely outpaces even mine, can’t pin the annoyingly fast ex-soldier down.

My familiar changes tactics and tries to heal me up herself, but Lonnie quickly scoops her off me and scratches just under her chin, causing the little traitor to melt into her arms. 

Lonnie stands over me with that confident smirk before setting Willow back down. “So. About that invoice,” she teases. 

I make one last ditch attempt to hit her with a viral package to no avail before hanging my head. Fortunately, my lungs have mended enough that I can talk. “Yeah, ok. You get it for free, but only if you explain how you bypass the quester restrictions.”

“Deal,” Lonnie agrees before handing me a small bottle. I recognize it as a quester healing draught. But the code in it has clearly been tampered with. Normally these things only heal the code degradation that monsters can inflict, but this one seems to just repair the proxy body directly. 

I chug it down and feel relief flow through me. While I’m climbing to my feet, I notice Summer’s aunt helping her niece and Felicia to their feet. 

“So, what’s the deal? How can you do all that? You broke so many known rules of Lanadel there.” I mean, I’m one to talk, which Lonnie quickly points out with a laugh, but I’m still curious. One of the reasons that the quester builds get nerfed when fighting against people is that otherwise you’d be handing unfair amounts of power to just any random joe shmoe that signs up. Human made combat frames cannot compete with what the AIs made. 

“Those orbs I offered to Felicia and Summer? Those were made by an AI ally of ours. They let us use quester builds to fight against LOG and their corporate masters.” And they said I’m a gamechanger. How haven’t they already kicked LOG to the curb by themselves? “The AI aren’t too happy about the state of things these days either, but their hands are tied.” She shakes her head. “Plus, we have to be real careful about when and where to use these powers. If LOG catches on to the fact that the AI are supporting us, they have ways of deleting AI.” 

She approaches me and offers me one of the orbs for myself. “With your help though, we could lay the groundwork that would let us take down LOG and start the revolution in earnest. Once everything’s in place, we can throw off the veil of secrecy and take the fight to them.”

Another recruitment pitch. Was that all this was?

Fucking shit. 

They just are not going to let me get out of this without helping? And I suppose I could learn a thing or two from them, especially if they have AI allies that can do this. 

“Ugh! FINE! At least for now I’ll join your stupid club.”

End Chapter 17